(Audio)
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
The Spirit hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation. After the flood the dove descended on the ark to reveal that creation had been renewed. But creation succumbed to sin. The flood wasn't enough to wash it away. These were only preludes to the new creation that is revealed in Christ Jesus.
Others had experienced God's favor in the past. Pharaoh recognized the Holy Spirit in Joseph. By the Spirit Moses led the people. The Spirit began to stir in Samson, he rushed on David. Yet with none of these was God perfectly "well pleased." The Spirit aided them but flesh often still won out. Only in Jesus do we discover the one in whom God was well pleased.
After Jesus was baptized,
he came up from the water and behold,
the heavens were opened for him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens, saying,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
What flesh weakened by sin could not accomplish God himself accomplished in his Son Jesus. Now in him we too become new creations.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (see Second Corinthians 5:17).
Now, by welcoming Jesus into our hearts, we too can become pleasing to God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (see Romans 12:1)
The Spirit descends on us at first in baptism. He claims us as sons and daughters in Jesus Christ. He makes us new creations and enables us to bear fruit for the Kingdom. But it doesn't end with baptism. We must constantly depend on the Spirit for the renewal which makes us acceptable. Just as the anointing was the beginning and not the end of the ministry of Jesus so too for us.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
May his fire fall upon us today. May he renew us in the certainty of sons and daughters. May he give us the power for the missions he has set before us.
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